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EDMONTON - Whenever the Vancouver Canucks bring their road show wizardry to town, fans may laugh at how little the home team touches the puck.

The Canucks, who haven’t lost a game in regulation in five weeks and have the second-most points in the NHL with 82, predictably toyed with the Edmonton Oilers in a 5-2 victory at Rexall Place on Sunday night.

They scored twice on 17 shots — captain Henrik Sedin and defenceman Sami Salo on a five-on-three power play off a Henrik feed — on Nikolai Khabibulin in the first 20 minutes before the beleaguered starting goalie took a seat at the end of the bench with what the team said was a tweaked groin, but it might also have been exhaustion.

Khabibulin, who made about six fire-alarm stops, kept it from being 5-0 in his one period of play. Manny Malhotra got one in off his skate, too, but the play was reviewed and the goal disallowed after it was

determined he had turned his skate to get it past the Oilers goalie.

Devan Dubnyk played the last two periods, giving up goals to defenceman Kevin Bieksa, winger Chris Higgins, off a Jannik Hansen pass after a weak defensive effort in the corner by Cam Barker, and Daniel Sedin.

The Oilers did get two on Canucks goalie Cory Schneider in the second period. Captain Shawn Horcoff

shovelled Ryan Smyth’s relay home, and Magnus Paajarvi fired a rocket off an Ales Hemsky pass, but that was it as ran their record to 1-4 against the Canucks this year.

The Oilers, who were shoddy

defensively, gave up two quickies to Toronto last Wednesday 98 seconds into the game and got the game to overtime, but the Maple Leafs aren’t the Canucks. Vancouver leads the NHL with 64 first-period goals and is 32-6-1 when opening the scoring.

Edmonton had no chance on

Salo’s one-timer, with Ben Eager and Ladislav Smid in the penalty box, but completely lost Henrik Sedin on his goal 53 seconds into the game.

“Blown coverage,” said Horcoff, who had the responsibility of checking the Sedins and Alex Burrows. “(We were) too soft in our zone and we kept turning the pucks over.”

The Oilers treated Khabibulin like he was radioactive material. They wouldn’t go near him to help him out.

“He felt it (sore groin) three or four minutes in and tried to play through, then had it tested after the period,” said stand-in head coach Ralph Krueger, once again running the bench for Tom Renney, who’s out with a concussion and may return for Tuesday’s game against the Flames in Calgary.

Smyth had a tough night defensively, finishing with a minus-2 rating, but it wasn’t just the Oilers’ commotion in their end, which has been a constant for much of the season.

The Oilers also failed to show enough emotion against a team that had played the night before in Vancouver. The Canucks are

32 points ahead of the Oilers

(22-30-6) in the standings, but if they kept track of time of puck possession, the Canucks would have had it 80 per cent of the time.

On Sunday, the Oilers were on the same level as the Canucks when

Samantha King was singing O Canada, but that was it.

There was little push back for most of the game.

“You’ve got to play with pride, play for your job, play for the logo on the front of your jersey,” said Smyth. “You have to compete.

“They went to the Stanley Cup finals last year, but this was a challenge for us, to rise to the level of one of the better teams in the league,” Smyth said.

The Canucks have scored more road goals (102) than any

other team this season and boast a

20-9-2 record away from home, which is No. 1 in away points.

Krueger admitted that “three of their goals were missed coverages ... and we kept trying to pass the puck through them, right up the middle of the ice. That’s their strength — they’re all about transition.”

Paajarvi, who has four points in his last five games, was one of the few bright spots for the Oilers with four shots and his sweet one-timer that he buried past Schneider.

“Maggie’s skating and looking for opportunities to play grittier and get to pucks first ... it’s exciting to see him making this step,” said Krueger. “Maggie and Hemmer (Hemsky) are getting some synergy which is good for us.”

ON THE BENCH: Oilers centre Sam Gagner was slashed on the hand by Bieksa in the first and missed the last three minutes, but was back for the final 40 minutes ... Henrik Sedin played his 558th straight game, —10th longest streak in NHL history ... The Canucks’ last regulation loss was Jan. 15, 4-2 to the Anaheim Ducks. They’re 10-0-3 since then ... Salo’s goal was his 300th career point ... Canucks centre Ryan Kesler didn’t score, but he had seven shots on net and another four blocked ... Canucks defenceman Keith Ballard is out with concussion symptoms.

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